Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/549

 NUMISMATICS 535 cupied by tribes from whose nomadic mode of life it is supposed to have received its name (Gr. No//a&'a, or rj No^a^/c^). Among the prin- cipal towns were : Hippo Regius (now Bona), the capital of the Massylians ; Oirta (Constan- tine), the residence of Masinissa ; Zama, famous for the final defeat of Hannibal in 202 B. 0. ; Csesarea (Cherchell), which at a later period fave name to Mauritania Csesariensis ; and iga, the capital of Syphax. The Numidians were famous as horsemen. When the Romans, during the second Punic war, first entered into relations with the Numidians, the Massylians were the principal tribe E. of the Ampsaga (now Wad el-Kebir), and the Massaesylians W. of it. Masinissa, the son of Gala, a king of the former, having allied himself with the Ro- mans, after various struggles became master also of the possessions of Syphax, the rival king of the Massaesylians, and in a long reign made the united kingdom powerful and pros- perous. Of his three sons, who according to his will divided the country after his death (148 B. 0.), Mastanabal and Gulussa died soon after, and the kingdom was reunited by Mi- cipsa, who died in 118, bequeathing his posses- sions to his sons Adherbal and Hiempsal, and to his nephew Jugurtha. The first two soon fell victims to the treachery of Jugurtha, who himself ended his life in a dungeon at Rome (104). Numidia was bestowed by the con- querors on Hiempsal II., a prince of royal blood, whose son and successor Juba, having fought with the adherents of Pompey against Caasar, shared in their defeat at Thapsus (46), and died by his own hand. Numidia was made a Roman province, and its western part was annexed to Mauritania. Augustus restored Juba II. to his father's kingdom, but subse- quently made him king of Mauritania and the land between the Malva and Saldae, converting the territory between the latter river and the Tusca into a Roman province. Another part between the Saldse and the Ampsaga being annexed to Mauritania under Claudius, the eastern division, also called New Numidia or Numidia Proper, formed a province of the later empire. NUMISMATICS (Lat. numisma, a coin), the science of coins and medals. It has no rela- tion to the value of coins as a circulating me- dium, but only to the history of coins and medals in all ages and countries, and the study of history as illustrated by their images and superscriptions. A coin is a piece of metal bearing an impressed device, and designed for circulation as money. A medal is a large piece of metal struck with one or more dies, intend- ed to commemorate some event, and not de- signed for circulation. A medallion is now generally understood to be synonymous with a medal. A medallet is a small medal, and usu- ally but not necessarily of inferior workman- ship. A token is a small medal, usually but not always of the same size with the current coin of the country in which it is struck, and issued for purposes of private individuals. The obverse of a coin or other piece is that side which bears the portrait or principal design indicating the country, nation, or object for which it was struck. The other side is the re- verse. The head or portrait on a piece is said to face to the right or left with reference to the beholder's right or left hand. When the design on a specimen varies in any decided characteristic from one already known, while the general object and purpose is manifestly the same, this is said to constitute a new type. When the variation is very slight, as in the size of the lettering or the distance between letters, it is classed as a variety. Proofs are coins or medals struck from the original die as it leaves the hands of the die cutter, and are thus distinguished from specimens struck with dies which have been reproduced by pressure from the original dies. Pattern or mint pieces are coins struck in any mint and proposed for adoption in the coinage of a country, but not adopted in the year of their first manufacture. The abbreviations ATI. or AV., AR., and M. signify respectively aurum, gold, argentum, sil- ver, and ces, brass or copper. Electrum, a na- tive alloy of silver and gold, was also used in ancient times for coins. The term billon denotes a debased silver used in some coinage. Brass was used for coin in ancient times, and is frequently used in modern times for tokens and medallets. Potin is a softer alloy than billon. The field on a coin or medal is the open space not occupied by a device or inscrip- tion. The exergue is variously understood as the open space outside the figure and inscrip- tions, or as the portion of that space below the main device, and distinctly separated from it. Strictly, the exergue only belongs to the re- verse of a coin, but in America this distinction is not preserved. The legend is usually under- stood to be any inscription other than the name of the monarch or personage represented on the coin or medal. The inscription includes any legend, names, titles, &c. A mint mark on a coin is the private mark placed on it by the mint to indicate genuineness, or the place of coinage, or for some other purpose. The size of coins or medals is measured among numis- matists by arbitrary scales. In Europe Mion- net's scale is generally used. In America a scale of sixteenths of an inch is much in use, and a medal of size 24 is 24 sixteenths of an inch in di- ameter across its face. Most of the principal cities of Europe have valuable numismatic col- lections, the most important of which are those of Paris, London, St. Petersburg, Berlin, Mu- nich, Vienna, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Flor- ence, and Madrid. The oldest coin extant' is considered by high authority to be a specimen of the gold stater of the Ionian city of Miletus, now in the British museum, of about 800 B. C. It has a lion's head on the obverse, and a rude indented punch mark on the reverse. But Herodotus says that the Lydians were the first to coin gold, and by some authorities the gold